Milewski rolling with a dream

Joseph Boo

Initially, Costa Mesa native Josh Milewski’s roller hockey

experience amounted to having fun with friends in pickup games on

neighborhood streets and local parking lots.

Now, however, Milewski finds himself in a more polished and prestigious

arena, playing for the championship of a continent.

Instead of bragging rights, paychecks are now his reward as a member of

the first U.S. national team.

It never occurred to him that roller hockey would give him free plane

tickets to the Czech Republic, or anywhere for that matter. But that’s

exactly where he’s headed, to the International Ice Hockey Federation’s

Inline Hockey World Cup, Wednesday through July 16, as a defenseman on

the U.S. squad.

“It’s unreal,” he said of his first international experience. “I think me

and another guy are the youngest on the team.”

Now that he’s on the team, which has lost only once in five years,

Milewski, 21, has to fight for playing time. (Canada, the one team to

beat the Americans, is not participating in the World Cup.)

“I’ll give it a good shot,” Milewski said. “I’ve just got to know my role

on the team and play hard. There are a lot ofskilled guys on the team and

I have to make the most of my chances.”

He is among three players of the 15-member team USA who didn’t play in

the defunct Roller Hockey International league, the premier American

league before it suspended play this year. And, nine of his teammates

have international experience.

“I’ve never done anything like this,” Milewski said. “So yeah, it’s going

to be weird.”

The only pro team Milewski played on was the Web Warriors of the Pro

Beach Roller Hockey League, a Huntington Beach-based league which gains

national exposure on ESPN. Milewski was the top defenseman for the

recently crowned league champions.

But it was with TOUR/Labeda, a club team that won two North American

Roller Hockey championships in a row, where he met national team coach

Joe Cook, and three future Team USA teammates.

It proved a valuable opportunity for the rugged 6-foot-2, 195-pounder, to

catch the attention of those who select the national team.

“That’s how I got in the circuit,” Milewski said. “I’ve played with and

against a lot of the guys on the team.”

Milewski, who now resides in Mission Viejo, started playing roller hockey

10 years ago, which is late compared to his American teammates from

Minnesota and New England, where hockey is ingrained.

“I grew up playing in Costa Mesa and there weren’t a lot of people to

play with,” Milewski said. “I think I was the first one in my

neighborhood to start playing when I picked it up. It took a couple of

years before everybody started playing because of Gretzky.”

When Wayne Gretzky was traded to the Los Angeles Kings after winning five

Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers, the prospect of the sport’s

biggest star playing in Tinseltown was a beguiling combination.

While Gretzky never won the Cup, he did come close in 1993, when the

Kings lost in five games to the Montreal Canadiens in the finals. Despite

the loss, the Kings’ Stanley Cup run inspired kids all over the Southland

to pick up a sport once reserved for colder climates.

Milewski is one of five native Californians on the U.S. team, revealing

how competitive hockey in the Southland has become.

As the sport’s popularity increased locally, Milewski was able to test

his abilities beyond neighborhood pickup games.

He’s still amazed that he can play roller hockey, make money and travel

around the world. And he’s savoring every moment of it.

“I just got kind of lucky,” he said. “I grew up playing the sport and I

just got asked to be on the team.”

“I’m not sure just how long I’m going to keep playing. I’m just going to

play it out and see where it takes me.”

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